539,848
This is a type of spear phishing attack where the bad guy has some specific personal knowledge about the target such as a vendor, account, transaction, friend, family member, employer, social activity, hobby, etc.
This information may be gathered from social media where people talk too much and expose personal information, creating a security weakness.
In WWII, the slogan was "Loose lips, sink ships". In other words, keep quiet, don't leak security information
An assertion is not a confirmed fact until it is verified by one or more separate credible methods. Multi-factor authentication is used to protect and verify valuable accounts and information.
The phone number was unknown, not the daughter's phone number and not an emergency service provider (police, fire, hospital), doctor, family member, or family friend.
Family members can memorize a password to use to authenticate calls and a code word to signal an emergency. No cost.
An important phone call can be confirmed by a follow-up email, to use a second communication channel. This is known as Out-Of-Band Authentication (OOBA).
I use encrypted Proton Mail with strong two-factor authentication (2FA). Proton Mail also serves as a Certification Authority (CA) and also digitally signs my outgoing email using a PGP key as verification of the email source, to prevent anyone from impersonating my email.
I don't use Big Tech snoop mail and snoop storage. I use encrypted email and encrypted storage. I don't broadcast my life story and photos on social media. I follow best practices for cybersecurity, home security, and personal security.
Every individual can choose to learn and follow security best practices or not. There are free videos on YouTube, articles on credible websites, free personal safety classes at the police department, crime prevention information from neighborhood watch, etc.
Passing more laws will not stop criminals. We already have laws against cybercrime, spam, harassment, burglary, theft, assault, murder.
Criminals seek weak targets. Become a hard target by target hardening.
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Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
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Wanda Kubat-Nerdin - W...
St. George, UT
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Dario Ferreira
Attleboro, MA
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Candice A. Donofrio
Fort Mohave, AZ
5,278,889
This actually happened to a neighbor of ours last year... when all was done, he was out $5,000.
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Wanda Kubat-Nerdin - W...
St. George, UT
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Lyn Sims
Schaumburg, IL
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Greg Large
Grove City, OH
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Kathleen Daniels, Prob...
San Jose, CA
5,451,587
There are two groups of people. One's that follow the law and one's who don't care. AI is going to challenge those of us who care. And, that's the way it is.
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Wanda Kubat-Nerdin - W...
St. George, UT
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Kathleen Daniels, Prob...
San Jose, CA
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Nina Hollander, Broker
Charlotte, NC
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Candice A. Donofrio
Fort Mohave, AZ
3,249,717
AI is just another detrimental tool in the hands of criminals, allowing more opportunities to scam the vulnerable. The only way to fix it is to have someone in charge at the top that really cares.
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Lyn Sims
Schaumburg, IL
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Kathleen Daniels, Prob...
San Jose, CA
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Nina Hollander, Broker
Charlotte, NC
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Candice A. Donofrio
Fort Mohave, AZ
1,284,981
It has always been a scary world out there. This is just a new chapter from that same book. Buyer beware has always been a well offered mantra. It takes on new meanings as we try to determine the fine line between truth and fiction.
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Wanda Kubat-Nerdin - W...
St. George, UT
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Kathleen Daniels, Prob...
San Jose, CA
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Hella M. Rothwell, Bro...
Carmel by the Sea, CA
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Candice A. Donofrio
Fort Mohave, AZ
1,096,100
They only need THREE SECONDS of YOUR voice to fabricate your voice any way they want . . . should we stop leaving outgoing messages with our voice on VM?
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Lyn Sims
Schaumburg, IL
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Nina Hollander, Broker
Charlotte, NC
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Hella M. Rothwell, Bro...
Carmel by the Sea, CA
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Wanda Kubat-Nerdin - W...
St. George, UT
3,210,294
Already had that happen to ME. Only it was my voice and a call to my mom saying I was going to jail for killing a pregnant woman in a car accident and that my attorney would be calling her back for "bond". My mom was smart enough to call my uncle who is the city fire chief to get to the bottom of it. The ONE thing that raised a red flag with my mom was what the "ME" on the phone called our local court house (and I won't disclose what that was because I don't want to give the scammers ammo). My mom didn't give the fake "attorney" any financial info or a credit card number, but it scared her very badly. Apparently they copied my voice from youtube videos of properties and used AI to sound like me and even cloned my phone number so my mom's phone said it was ME calling.
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Kat Palmiotti
Kalispell, MT
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Hella M. Rothwell, Bro...
Carmel by the Sea, CA
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Wanda Kubat-Nerdin - W...
St. George, UT
637,534
How about we pull back on how much of our personal lives we put out there to the world about our personal lives? But that won't happen because this is how our social life is played out these days. The world knows what you are doing and with whom. For us agents it's even more challenging because we need to talk to total strangers every day. I'm amazed how much trust they put in US when we ask them questions. But they figure they are SAFE because they initiated the contact .
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Wanda Kubat-Nerdin - W...
St. George, UT
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Nina Hollander, Broker
Charlotte, NC
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Candice A. Donofrio
Fort Mohave, AZ
1,868,448
When I saw this yesterday I was shocked but all the techies said it was going to happen. Paul McCartney is going to finish a John Lennon song.
I have no thoughts on how to fix this.
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Nina Hollander, Broker
Charlotte, NC
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Wanda Kubat-Nerdin - W...
St. George, UT
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Candice A. Donofrio
Fort Mohave, AZ
6,084,403
Hi Candice- I read that as well. Thugs and scum have been around forever. Thirty + years ago, Larry's mother received a call from her "granddaughter"asking for money because she was in trouble. Thankfully, she called me first. Now the thugs have the technology to help them.
Parents or all of us should use a codeword to verify if the person is who they say they are.
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Jerry Lucas
Colorado Springs, CO
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Candice A. Donofrio
Fort Mohave, AZ
3,418,387
I saw that. Horrible. While I am not a fan of "controls" AI is one beast that must be controlled. How - I do not see how because the BEAST is already out running wild.
The only possible way that I know that works in destroying data is bleach and hammers. It worked for Hillary.
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Wanda Kubat-Nerdin - W...
St. George, UT
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Kathleen Daniels, Prob...
San Jose, CA
672,561
would be nice if agencies like the CIA and FBI that COULD find some of these lowlifes and prosecutors and judges put some away with meaningful sentences, it just *might* deter some who think it might be a good idea to try.
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Wanda Kubat-Nerdin - W...
St. George, UT
5,981,047
Our world gets scarier each and every day!
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Candice A. Donofrio
Fort Mohave, AZ
786,084
The problem with regulating AI is if America restricts the use of it the rest of the world will leave us behind. It is going to be quite dangerous rather quickly.
930,698
Now is a good time to check passwords, do 2FA, establish password rotation system, use password vault, maybe even get a stronger email provider. ( note that LastPass was hacked twice in the last year or so). https://www.zdnet.com/article/best-lastpass-alternative/
940,461
2,244,907
6,653,232